Self-storing, self-feeding vial closure

ABSTRACT

A vial closure comprising an inside base portion having an adhesive material to which pills can be adhered to facilitate the inspection and withdrawal of the pills.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to medicinal pill storage containers and, in particular, to closures for pill vials for making pills more readily available and accessible to the user.

2. Descriptions of the Prior Art

Pill containers are widely known and used by millions of people every day, both with respect to prescriptions from doctors, which are dispensed by pharmacists, and to over-the-counter medicines sold and dispensed in drug stores, food stores, and the like, and remotely ordered by telephone, the Internet and the like. Medicinal pills are usually packaged in containers having a cylindrical wall with a circular base and a pop-off, threaded or integrally hinged top, or from glass jars with similar tops. In these types of containers, hereinafter referred to as “vials,” the pills are loosely contained and the user either puts a finger into the vial to withdraw the desired number of pills or pours a number of pills into the user's hand, selects the desired pill or pills for insertion into the user's mouth, and manually pours the remaining pills back into the vial. As used herein, a vial assembly comprises a vial body and a vial closure.

These conventional ways of withdrawing pills from vials have a number of disadvantages. For many users whose hand coordination is not good, such as feeble people, people with various diseases such as Parkinson's Disease, and the like, there is a real problem of the pills being dropped, the vial itself being dropped and the difficulty of either grasping a pill within the vial or pouring unused pills back into the vial. Sometimes a person wants to inspect pills in a vial to make sure the right pill is to be taken prior to ingesting it. Another problem is that sometimes a user's hands are wet prior to pouring the pills in the user's hands, and the pills can become wet as well occasionally causing them to partially decompose.

The foregoing problems of the prior art exist both for vials for a person's personal use, for giving pills to another person, or to insert the pill in an animal's mouth.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a vial closure which enables the withdrawing of pills without having to insert a finger into the vial body or without having to pour pills into one's palm to select the desired pill or pills and pour the remainder back into the vial body.

Another object of the invention is to provide a vial closure for enabling the easy grasping of one or more pills without risking the dropping of other pills in the vial body.

A still further object is to provide a vial assembly from which pills can be inspected prior to use and can be reinserted in the vial assembly if not to be used.

It is yet still another object of the invention to provide an improved vial closure of a vial assembly for pills from which pill(s) can be removed in the desired number without getting them wet prior to grasping even if the user's hands are wet.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a vial closure having an adhesive material for holding a small number of pills, the adhesiveness of which material can be varied in a very efficient and inexpensive manner.

An additional object is to present pills from a vial closure which enlarges the adhesive area of the portion of the vial closure to facilitate the adhesive attachment of the pills to the portion, and to make it easier to inspect the pills and remove them as desired for insertion in the mouth of the user or another person or an animal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one version of the invention, showing a vial body with a vial closure positioned apart from the vial body.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the vial assembly shown in FIG. 1 with the vial closure closing the vial body.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a vial closure as shown in FIG. 1, taken in the direction 3-3 as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the vial closure shown in FIG. 4, taken in the direction 5-5 as shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of one type of adhesive pad for inclusion in a vial assembly according to the invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of another type of adhesive pad for use in a vial assembly according to the invention.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of another type of adhesive pad for use in a vial assembly according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention according to the preferred embodiments comprises a vial body and a vial cap for such a vial body, wherein the vial cap, closure, top or cover (hereinafter referred to as a “closure”) has an adhesive material disposed on the inside of the closure to which pills adhere when the vial assembly is turned over and from which the adhered pills can be inspected and/or removed for use. There are various embodiments for the adhesive material.

FIG. 1 shows a vial assembly 1 according to one embodiment of the invention. Vial assembly 1 comprises a vial body 3 having a cylindrical tubular side 5, a circular bottom 7 and a circular open top 9. A closure 13 comprises a cylindrical tubular outer wall 15, a cylindrical tubular inner wall 17 having an outwardly protruding rim 19 near a recess 21 which terminates in a circular base 23 which forms the inside central portion or inside base portion of an end wall 25 of closure 13. A vial body receptacle 27 is defined between the outer wall 15 and inner wall 17 for receiving the upper portion of vial body 3 and rim 11. Outer wall 15, inner wall 17 and vial body 3 are made from a flexible material, such as a hard plastic, and that the walls 15 and 17 are resilient and flex as rim 11 passes between them and engages outwardly protruding rim 19, the latter of which retains closure 13 on rim body 3 as shown in FIG. 2.

An adhesive material 29 is disposed on the inside of circular base 23. Adhesive material 29 could be in the form of a disk, as described below, it could be coated on base 23, or it could be an integral part of closure 13. The adhesive material must be non-toxic and non-reactive with any pills or the like, or the material from which vial assembly 1 is made. In order to inspect and/or withdraw a pill, tablet, capsule or the like (hereinafter referred to as “pills”) P from vial assembly 1, one merely tips or turns vial assembly 1 over, or shakes vial assembly 1, so that one or more pills P contact adhesive material 29 and to which pills P are adhesively stuck. The user can then inspect pills P adhered to the vial closure 13 and remove them as necessary to put pills P in the user's mouth, the mouth of another person or an animal.

The inside base portion could be made of a material which itself is adhering. Some plastics could become adhesive when heated appropriately.

Another embodiment 51 of the invention is shown in FIG. 5, which is a cross section of that shown in FIG. 4. The hard plastic portions shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are identical to those shown in FIGS. 1-3, and they are given the same numerical designator as in FIGS. 1-3. A description thereof can be read with respect to the description relating to FIGS. 1-3.

Item 51 is a vial closure having an enlarged surface area to hold more pills P adhesively than existed for equally sized vial closures 13. This is accomplished by means of an enlarged adhesive area on the inside of vial closure 51. The enlarged area can be made by shaping the contour of base 23 appropriately or, as shown, by means of a built-up surface provided by a foam enlargement 55 stuck to base 23. The foam material could be replaced by any other appropriate material. An adhesive coating, pad or the like 44 is on foam enlargement 55. Operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is the same as that for FIGS. 1-3, and reference of the operation is made to the earlier descriptions.

In the event that adhesive pads are used to be attached to the inside circular base 3, a plain pad or disk 61 can be used as shown in FIG. 6. However, if the adhesive provides too much adhesive strength, small holes 73 could be provided to reduce the adhesive area to which pills P could be adhered, as shown in a disk 71 in FIG. 7, or notches 83 or the like provided in disk 81 shown in FIG. 8. The holes or notches could be made by various mechanical, chemical or heating methods. Similar arrangements could be used for the adhesive material shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Of course, other types of adhesives could be used, or grains or particles of a non-adhesive material could be adhered to the adhesive material.

Although the foregoing description referred to plastic vial assemblies, the inventive concepts also apply to other such assemblies, such as those made from glass, metal, and combinations thereof and combinations thereof with plastic.

The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to the preferred embodiments, but variations and modifications may occur to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description and the appended claims. 

1. A vial closure comprising: a base having an inside base portion for facing the inside of a vial body when the closure is attached to the vial body; and an adhesive material on said inside base portion to which pills can adhere to make the pills easy to inspect and/or be removed.
 2. A vial closure according to claim 1 wherein said adhesive material is a disk having adhesive surfaces.
 3. A vial closure according to claim 2 wherein said disk has portions of the adhesive material reduced to reduce the surface area of the adhesive material to accordingly reduce the adhesive strength on pills adhered to said disk.
 4. A vial closure according to claim 3 wherein said disk has adhesive portions removed from said disk.
 5. A vial closure according to claim 1 wherein said adhesive material is coated on said inside base portion.
 6. A vial closure according to claim 1 wherein said adhesive material is integral with said inside base portion.
 7. A vial closure according to claim 1 wherein said inside base portion has an enlarged portion for increasing the adhesive surface area of said adhesive material.
 8. A vial closure according to claim 7 and further including an attachment to said inside base portion for enlarging the adhesive area.
 9. A vial closure according to claim 8 wherein said attachment is a plastic foam.
 10. A vial closure according to claim 7 wherein said enlarged portion is integral with said inside base portion. 